The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Petunia plant, which is hereinafter referred to as ‘Sunpetu 101’.
A Petunia is a very popular plant that is used in flower bedding and potting in the summer season.
This purpose of this invention is to obtain a new Petunia cultivar with vigorous and semi-trailing habit, abundant flowering, the whole bush remaining in bloom for a considerable period of time, and single, medium sized and vivid purple-white bicolored flowers.
The new Petunia plant originated from cross-pollination of the female parent ‘P23F1-8’ and the male parent ‘MP22-188-2’. The female parent ‘P23F1-8’ (unpatented) used in the crossing of ‘Sunpetu 101’ is a strain of the applicant's breeding lines (i.e., proprietary Petunia selection), having medium plant diameter, and the male parent ‘MP22-188-2’ (unpatented) used in the crossing of ‘Sunpetu 101’ is a strain of the applicant's breeding lines (i.e., proprietary Petunia selection), having purple petals. The cross-pollination was conducted in Sep. 10, 2010 at Yame-gun, Fukuoka, Japan.
In March 2011, the seedlings obtained by the crossing were planted in a field. In May 2011, some seedlings were selected in view of growth habit, flower size and color thereof. Shortly thereafter stem tip culturing was carried out, and then the propagation was started.
In November 2012, the cultivation of the seedlings was repeated. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar varieties ‘Daiichi-MP22-193-1’ and ‘Daiichi-MP22-21-2’ for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Petunia plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics.
The new variety of Petunia plant was then named ‘Sunpetu 101’.